Catching the Flower
by JPxLE
Summary: It's the seventh and final year at Hogwarts for James and the Marauders, and his last chance to win over Lily Evans. Will he succeed or push her further away? ON HIATUS
1. Chapter 1

James Potter woke with a start on September 1st, to find his best friend Sirius Black sitting on the end of his bed, flicking Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans at his head.

"Okay, okay, I'm awake." James grumbled, rubbing his eyes and running a hand through his permanently messy hair. Sirius pelted a few more at his face, just for good measure. James glared at him, and grabbed his glasses from the floor of his bedroom. He then roughly took the box of Every Flavour Beans from Sirius, and dumped the whole box over his head.

Sirius shook his head in a rather dog-like fashion and grinned good-naturedly.

"You're late." Sirius informed him.

James looked at the clock beside his bed, and yelped. 10:45.

"You're lucky we can Apparate this year, mate."

James wasn't paying attention, he was too busy throwing everything in sight into his suitcase. When he was satisfied he hadn't forgotten anything, he threw on some random clothes from the floor of his bedroom. He ran down the stairs, into the kitchen, and helped himself to some toast.

Sirius came down the stairs a few seconds later, levitating his suitcase in front of him.

"Ready to go?" he asked.

"Nearly." James replied, before summoning his own suitcase. It zoomed down the stairs and James gracefully caught it in his right hand, still eating toast with his left. "Let's go!"

Emily Potter walked into the room.

"Leaving without saying goodbye?" she asked, with mock disappointment.

"'Course not, Mum." James replied, finishing his toast and giving his mother a big hug. "Owl me anything I forgot, 'kay?"

Emily nodded in response.

"Hurry now, don't want to be late."

And with that, James and Sirius Disapparated to King's Cross Station. Checking their watches, they saw that they only had two minutes left before the Hogwarts Express would leave. They hurried through the barrier and rushed across Platform 9¾.

Once they got on the train, they set about looking for an empty compartment. Luckily, they noticed their friends Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew in the third compartment they passed.

"Well, they're earlier than last year." Remus commented to Peter as James and Sirius put away their suitcases.

James sat down next to Peter; Sirius next to Remus.

"How were your summers?" James enquired.

"Fine." Peter replied.

"Not great." Remus told them, in a sad tone. "We went to visit my grandparents in Wales. The second week we were there was full moon. They didn't know about my … condition, so when we told them, they freaked out and kicked us out. Well, kicked _me_ out, but my parents stood by me."

"Oh, Moony …" James didn't know what to say to that. It made him so mad that people discriminated against his friend for what he was. He, Sirius and Peter had discovered Remus' secret when they were in second year, after learning about werewolves in class. They had spent the following three years becoming Animagi, and by fifth year, they were able to accompany him at full moon.

"S'alright." Remus said gruffly. "Used to it by now."

"Sweet trolley!" Sirius exclaimed.

James rolled his eyes. "Go on, then. What d'you all want?"

The Marauders all gave James their orders, along with some gold to pay the witch who pushed the trolley.

James stepped out into the corridor and ordered. As he was taking his sweets and being handed his change, he saw her. Lily Evans, the girl of his dreams. Corny, but it was true. He watched her walking towards him, laughing with her friends. She scowled when she noticed him. He smiled in return.

"Well, Potter? I'm kind of in a rush here, so if you could just hurry up and say whatever moronic pick up line you've thought of and get the hell out of my way?"

"Um, hey, Lily."

He heard giggles behind him as he turned and walked away. As he opened the door to his compartment, he sneaked a sideways glance at Lily, who was blushing and looking puzzled. She smacked the arm of the girl on her left, which silenced the giggling.

James smirked to himself, before continuing into the compartment and giving out the sweets.


	2. Chapter 2

Lily Evans was extremely confused at the behaviour of James Potter. She smacked Marlene McKinnon, who was giggling hysterically beside her.

"I'm sorry, Lily, but it was so funny!"

"Yeah, but it was strange though, don't you think?" added Emma Prewitt, who was standing on the other side of Lily. "What d'you think it means? Has he gone off Lily? Or he just playing hard to get?"

Marlene snorted. "Gone off Lily? I doubt it! He's been chasing her for five years now, he's not going to just suddenly stop liking her. And hard to get? Don't even get me started! It is odd though... What do you think, Lily?"

No response.

"Lily?" Marlene waved a hand in front of her face.

"Wha'? Um, yeah, what she said." Lily said quickly.

Emma shook her head and rolled her eyes.

"C'mon!" Marlene ordered them. "Cauldron cakes await!"

Lily was silent for most of the journey to Hogwarts, occasionally mumbling responses to sound like she was interested in the conversation of her two best friends.

Had Potter stopped liking her? Wasn't she _good_ enough for him anymore? Not that she wanted him to like her, but it was still kind of flattering to have someone compliment you every time they saw you. Even though it was extremely irritating after the first hundred times, but still... She couldn't remember a time when Potter wasn't constantly hitting on her.

"Lily, we're getting close to Hogwarts." Emma interrupted her train of thought. "Time to get into our robes."

"Oh, Lily, I've been meaning to ask you," Marlene said. "Who's Head Boy this year?"

"Dunno." Lily replied, thoughtfully. "Remus, probably – hopefully! It didn't say in my letter." Lily absent-mindedly rubbed her Head Girl badge, wiping away an imaginary smudge.

"Well, we'll find out soon enough. Look – there's Hogwarts!" Emma said excitedly, pointing out the window.

"Wow, I can't believe it's our last year at Hogwarts." Lily said.

"Yeah, I know." Marlene agreed. "Seven years seemed like such a long time back in first year, but look how fast it's going."

"Mmm." Emma nodded sadly.

The trained slowed and the three girls stood up and started taking down their suitcases.

"I can't wait for the feast, I'm starving!" Marlene said loudly. It was hard to hear over all the noise at Hogsmeade station, but Marlene had such a loud voice, it wasn't difficult for her friends to understand what she was saying.

Marlene was a very pretty and outgoing girl. She had black, wavy hair that reached her waist, and brilliant blue eyes that sparkled when she smiled. She wasn't exactly skinny, but she wasn't fat either. Everyone liked Marlene and she had a lot of friends. She was always the centre of attention, which she used to her advantage quite a lot.

Emma, on the other hand, was quite the opposite of Marlene. She didn't have the same kind of beauty as Marlene, but she certainly wasn't plain. She had mousy brown hair that just about reached her shoulders and dark brown eyes that were almost black. She had a heart shaped face, and her mouth was slightly too big when compared to the rest of her features. She was very quiet in big groups of people, but she was extremely funny and great to be around when it was just the three of them.

"I can't wait to get back to my four-poster." Emma said. "I'm wrecked!"

The three friends headed towards the horseless carriages, when Emma noticed they weren't quite so horseless this year.

"Oh my gosh, what are _they_?"

"What are you talking about Emma?" Lily asked, puzzled.

"Those!" Emma said exasperatedly. "Pulling the carriages!"

"There's nothing there, Emma." Lily told her friend slowly, as if talking to a five year old.

At the same time, Marlene said, in the same patronising tone, "They've always been there."

"Wait, what?" Marlene and Lily looked at each other, equally confused.

"You mean, you can't see them?" Marlene asked.

"See what?" Lily retorted. "There's nothing there!"

"There is so!" Emma told her.

"We'll prove it." Marlene said, dragging Lily to the front of the carriage. She proceeded to take Lily's arm and pull it out towards the horse-like animal.

"Marlene, this is – Oh my gosh!" Lily exclaimed, pulling arm away.

Rubeus Hagrid, the gamekeeper walked over to the three girls, who were now discussing what the animal might be.

"I see yeh've found ou' abou' the Thestrals, then."

"The what?"

"Thestrals. Yeh can only see 'em if yeh've seen death. They're harmless creatures, really. I tamed this lot m'self." He told them proudly. "Only tame herd in Britain, they are."

"Wow, Hagrid, I've never heard of Thestrals before, and I've read Hogwarts: A History three times at least." Lily said.

"Yeah, well, they don' say nothin' abou' the house elves either, bu' tha' don' mean they're not there."

"There are _house elves_ at Hogwarts?"

"Well, yeah, how'd yeh think all the food gets on yer plates?"

"I -" Lily hesitated. "I guess I never really thought about it before.

"Well, yeh'd better get goin' or yeh'll be late for dinner."

Lily, Marlene and Emma looked around. Nearly all the carriages had left. They quickly got into their carriage and started their trip to the castle.

The feast passed without excitement, and Marlene and Emma got up to leave for bed.

"I'll be up as soon as the meeting is over." Lily told them.

Her friends wished her luck, and told her they'd wait up for her.

"I'll be as quick as I can. Fingers crossed Remus is Head Boy!"

The girls smiled and left. Lily was positive that Remus would be Head Boy. He was really clever and did well in nearly every class. All the teachers loved him, and he Lily thought he was very nice. She couldn't understand why he was a Marauder, but all the same, he would make a good Head Boy.

Lily finished her treacle tart and got up to go to her meeting. She didn't want to go alone, so she walked over to where the Marauders were sitting and tapped Remus on the shoulder.

"Remus? You ready for the Head's meeting?"

Remus smiled and shook his head. "Umm... Not exactly."

The other three Marauders started laughing hysterically. Lily frowned.

"What?"

"Well, I'm not Head Boy."

Lily blushed. "Oh, sorry, I guess I just assumed it would be you."

"So did we." Sirius told her, solemnly. "So imagine our surprise when we discovered who was actually appointed Head Boy."

Lily furrowed her brow. "Why? Who is it?"

James looked at her, trying not to laugh. "It's me."

Lily's jaw dropped. James took his badge out of his pocket and pinned it onto his robes, smiling.

Lily was silent for a few moments, before suddenly bursting into laughter.

"Oh, very funny, Potter. Now, give Remus back his badge before we're late for our meeting."

Remus looked at her apologetically. "Lily, he actually is Head Boy. Sorry."

"But … But … He – I – You – He couldn't be!" Lily stuttered.

Remus shrugged and went back to his dinner. James stood up, ran a hand through his already messy black hair and looked at Lily.

"Sorry to disappoint you, Evans, but you're stuck with me for the year."

Lily made a strangled sort of noise. "Why does the world hate me?" she muttered as she stormed off. Behind her, she could hear the Marauders laughing.

"She took it better than you thought, Prongs."

"Yeah, she didn't slap you. You owe me a Galleon, Wormtail!"


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: Yeah, I know I haven't updated this story in far too long. I'm not going to beg for reviews, but it does give me encouragement to update faster when I get reviews. **

**I didn't get any reviews for the first two chapters of this story, and it kind of made me give up on it for a while. But now, I've decided I'm going to keep writing it, even if it never gets a review, because I love writing! **

**Still though, reviews would be appreciated. :)**

* * *

At the meeting, Lily and James discovered that the rumours of a Heads Dorm were untrue, much to James's dismay.

As they walked back to Gryffindor tower, James led Lily through some shortcuts that Lily had never come across in all her seven years at Hogwarts.

"Wow, that's amazing!", Lily exclaimed, forgetting that she was supposed to hate James. "How did you find out about all of these?"

"Well, it cost us a few detentions for being out past curfew, but we're pretty sure we know all of the castles secrets now", James shrugged.

"Maybe you can show me more some time."

James stared at Lily. Was she being nice to him?

Lily stopped walking as they reached the Fat Lady. James turned to face her. "Look, Potter", Lily began, "I was thinking that, um, since we're Heads this year and all, maybe we could put the past behind us? You stop bothering me all the time and I'll start being nice to you?"

"Sounds good to me", James told her, "but one thing. Would you mind calling me James instead of Potter?"

"Sure", Lily smiled. Then, turning to the Fat Lady, "Snidget"

The Fat Lady swung open to let them in. James helped Lily through the portrait hole like a perfect gentleman. Lily glanced around the room as the Fat Lady sealed herself behind them. The common room was empty. She supposed everyone must have been exhausted from the excitement of the first day back at Hogwarts.

"Well, um, goodnight, James", Lily said quietly, not wanting to disturb the peacefulness of the room.

James smiled at the use of his first name. He loved the way his name sounded when Lily said it. "Night, Lily."

Suddenly, Lily leaned in and gave him a quick hug. James put his arms around Lily and hugged her back. He could smell the gorgeous scent of her shampoo and her arms felt so warm and soft around him. All too soon, she pulled away from him and hurried up the stairs to her dormitory, not looking back. James watched her leave, and stayed standing there for a few minutes trying to take in what had just happened.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

The next morning, Lily woke up to find that all her friends had already gone down to breakfast. Grumbling, she got dressed and hurried down the stairs into the common room. As she was in such a hurry, she had forgotten to tie her shoelaces – something she didn't realise until she tripped as she rushed across the common room. Cursing to herself, she sat up and tied her shoelace. It was then that she heard chuckling from the other side of the common room. Darn. She had thought there was nobody her. Lily looked up to see James Potter making his way towards her.

"Clumsy, much?", he joked.

Lily pouted. "I'm not clumsy, gravity just hates me."

James chuckled and offered his hand to Lily. She grabbed his hand and let him pull her up.

"You going to breakfast?", he asked her.

"Yeah, you?"

"Yeah. Do you, um, wanna go down together or something?"

She smiled brightly. "Sure, why not?"

Together, they walked to the Great Hall, James showing Lily a few more secret passages along the way. As they walked, they talked a little about themselves. Lily realised that she knew next to nothing about James, which surprised her a bit. She learned that he had no siblings, and she told him about her sister, Petunia, whom she was no longer on speaking terms with.

"She's mad!", James exclaimed, "Why wouldn't anyone want to talk to you?"

Lily giggled and blushed. That was really quite sweet.

They chatted a little more, and didn't even notice that they had entered the Great Hall. It was half empty because most students had finished homework at this stage. There were still a few stragglers, eating breakfast while studying a book, and a few latecomers like themselves.

Sirius and Marlene were in a heated argument over the last slice of toast – nothing unusual there. Emma and Remus were discussing a homework assignment and Peter was helping himself to a second portion of scrambled eggs.

They all stopped what they were doing when they saw James and Lily walking towards them, Lily laughing at something James had said. Nobody said anything as they sat down beside them and started to choose their breakfast, still chatting away. Suddenly, James and Lily noticed the silence and looked around to see their friends staring at them in disbelief.

"What?", Lily asked, bewildered.

"I thought you hated Potter!", Marlene burst out.

Lily blushed a little. "He's not so bad."

"You're JOKING!", Sirius said loudly.

James laughed and said, "Nope. Me and Lily are friends now."

Marlene raised her eyebrows and muttered to Lily, "We'll be having a little talk about _this_ later."


	4. Chapter 4

"So you weren't just messing with us? You really _are_ friends with Potter?", Marlene enquired incredulously.

Lily shrugged. "Yeah, we're both Heads this year, so it'll make things easier. Plus, he's gonna stop pretending he likes me now, which is definitely a bonus, so why not?"

"Um, Lily", Emma interrupted, "What do you mean 'pretending to like you'?"

"Well I thought it was pretty obvious...", Lily replied with a puzzled look.

"Potter clearly isn't actually into Lily, it's all an act so that people pay attention to him.", Marlene explained in a patronising tone.

"Well you two can think whatever you want, but I don't think it's true. I've seen the way James looks when she rejects him. It's not a joke for him!" Emma burst out. Lily and Marlene looked at her strangely – Emma was usually so reserved.

"Touchy!", Marlene exclaimed. "Does someone have a crush on Potter?"

"Of course not", Emma retorted, "But even if I did, do you think I'd really have a chance? D'you think anyone has a chance against Lily? You say he's pretending to like Lily, but if it's all an act, then why does he never go out with other girls? It's not for lack of offers!"

And with that, she stormed off.

"Well I never!", Marlene murmured.

Lily didn't reply; she was too busy in thought. Did Potter actually fancy her? What Emma had said made sense. She had never known him to have a girlfriend. Sure, he had snogged girls in broom closets but he'd never had a real girlfriend. And even Lily couldn't deny, he was very good looking, and most people seemed to think that he had a great personality, although Lily didn't agree with that. But, if he did fancy her... Why? What was so special about her? She didn't think she was pretty. Marlene had always been the one who attracted attention. And she had never been nice to Potter. So why? No, Lily conceded, Emma must be looking too much into this. He couldn't possibly like _her_.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

All of a sudden, it was November. The first month at school had flown by. Lily, Marlene and Emma were excited for the first trip to Hogsmeade.

"I'm dying for some Butterbeer!", Marlene said excitedly, "Let's go to the Three Broomsticks first."

"And I'm going to stock up on Honeyduke's finest chocolate. A month's supply at least!" Lily told her friends happily."

The three girls giggled, and headed towards the gates of the school, wrapping scarves tighter around them.

After shopping around and picking up a few quills and other essentials, the girls were free to roam around Hogsmeade. For a while, they stood looking at the Shrieking Shack, debating whether it was really haunted or not. In the middle of the argument, Marlene decided it was 'Butterbeer time', partly because she craved Butterbeer and partly because she was losing the argument.

As they entered the Three Broomsticks, they saw that they were not the only ones who had decided to warm themselves up with a Butterbeer. The bar was completely crowded. Lily indicated a small unoccupied table in the corner, telling Marlene and Emma to sit down and she would get the drinks. After queueing for what seemed like an hour, she made her way over to the table.

"Sorry, Lils", Marlene told her sheepishly, "Only two chairs."

Lily scowled and looked around the bar, trying to find an unused chair. Finally, she spotted one. Only one problem – it was at the Marauder's table. Lily rolled her eyes. Typical. She didn't want to stand at their table, so she pushed her way through the crowd to get to their table.

"Evans!", Sirius said delightedly when she stopped at their table. "What a pleasant surprise!"

Lily glanced at James, who was staring determinedly into his Butterbeer.

"Would it be okay if I took this chair?", she asked Sirius sweetly.

"Aww, you're not going to join us?", he replied in mock disappointment.

"I'll take that as a yes.", Lily commented, and without another word, she took the chair and returned to her table.

As soon as she had set down her chair, the girls heard screaming coming from outside. A few people stood up, trying to see what was going on. The screaming got louder and Lily heard yells coming from outside. She quickly got up and headed towards the door to see what was happening. She peeked outside the door and was shocked to see people running around the streets, screaming, as well as a few lying on the ground wounded. She glanced up to the sky and saw the dreadful Dark Mark hovering in the sky. She had only ever seen the Dark Mark in photographs before, and had never really understood what was so scary about it. Now, she could feel terror running through her veins.

Hooded figures shot colourful curses at the people shrieking and trying to get away. Lily panicked. She turned around to find Emma and Marlene behind her. She told them to gather up all the younger students and get them back to Hogwarts. Then, Lily did something she thought she'd never do. She swallowed her pride and asked the Marauders for help.

"Look, there are Death Eaters outside. I _know_ you know shortcuts to Hogwarts, so get there quickly and raise the alarm. Got it?"

Peter nodded and scurried off, while the other three told her they were staying to fight. Lily nodded grimly and, taking a deep breath, stepped outside. She ran as fast as she could against he instincts, towards the Death Eaters. She sent a few Stunning curses towards the Death Eaters, as well as a few other random jinxes that occurred to her. Suddenly, Lily heard cackling behind her. She twirled around to find herself face to face with Bellatrix Black. Bellatrix had finished Hogwarts two years ago.

Lily tried to disarm her, but Bellatrix deflected it easily.

"Is that the best you've got, Mudblood?", she cackled.

Lily furiously tried more curses, to no avail.

"Crucio!", Bellatrix yelled in her high-pitched voice.

Lily was overwhelmed with pain all over her body. She screamed out in pain as Bellatrix intensified the curse.

"Expelliarmus!", bellowed a voice behind Lily. As suddenly as it had started, Lily's pain stopped. She collapsed to the ground. The hands belonging to the voice shook her shoulders desperately as Bellatrix scrambled around searching for her wand.

"Lily, Lily!"

It was none other than James Potter. Lily reached out and James grabbed her hand, pulling her to her feet.

"Come on, Lily, we have to get you back to Hogwarts", he told her as he tried to pull her along.

Out of nowhere, Bellatrix appeared in front of them once again.

"Got to finish what I started.", she laughed gleefully. "_Avada_ -"

As James saw the green light coming from Bellatrix's wand, his whole world was turned upside down. Everything around him was blurred, only Lily remained clear in his vision. It seemed as if everything was going in slow motion. Lily wasn't going to move out of the way in time. Lily couldn't die. If Lily died... He didn't even want to think about it. All this happened in a split second, and without thinking about it, he dived in front of Lily, pulling her to the ground. Then, his world went black.

Lily sat up and saw James lying on the ground. She screamed and started to sob uncontrollably. She didn't even notice Aurors arriving and Death Eaters fleeing. She just knelt on the ground, shaking the boy who had saved her life.

She leaned over his torso, weeping into his chest, whispering "No" between sobs. Lily felt a gentle tap on her shoulder and looked up to see Dumbledore himself looking down at her.

"Would it be all right if we took Mr. Potter to the Hospital Wing?", he enquired politely.

"Y-you mean he's n-not...", Lily trailed off.

"I believe Mr. Potter is simply unconscious. The curse just grazed his shoulder, so it did not do what was intended. He has had a very lucky escape. Madam Pomfrey should be able to fix him up in no time."

Lily had calmed down considerably during Dumbledore's speech and followed quietly as Dumbledore levitated James towards the school.

After about half an hour, Madam Pomfrey had finished with James, and Lily sat at his bedside, waiting for him to wake up. Waiting, just waiting.


End file.
